After the End
by scotiej
Summary: This is a continuation of At the End where Shepard wakes up and learns how to live a life without the threat of the Reapers. This fic primarily ignores the consequences of the Destroy ending because I just wanted a simple happy ending. Sometimes it's nice to ignore reality and enjoy a good old fashioned happy ending. Or is it?
1. Wake up

"Commander Shepard, it's time to wake up now."

The words sounded like I was hearing them under water. My eyes weren't opening. They felt like they had been glued shut.

I remembered the sensation and what caused it. Heavy pain medication; waking up from the drug is difficult and I always hated it. Even though the experience only lasts a few minutes it feels like an eternity when you can't open your eyes or move your limbs.

"There you go, take it easy. You're going to be groggy for a while."

Gotta love it when someone states the obvious.

After some struggling to get my body to respond I finally managed to open my eyes. My sight was still blurry but I could make out the shape of a small room. Standing to my right I saw a Salarian checking me over, he smiled and said. "Welcome back to the land of the living Commander Shepard, I'm Doctor Ilset. How are you feeling?" Trying to blink away the blurriness I replied, "Groggy but I feel alright." My voice came out with difficulty and my tongue felt like a cotton ball, I must've been out of it for a while.

The doctor stood up, walked around to the end of the bed, picked up a data pad and began looking over what I suspected was my file. "Good. The monitors picked up the fact that you woke up last night and then promptly sedated you when they detected a spike of pain. However we determined that you would be well enough to be awake. What do you last remember?" I moved to sit up, looked around the room and saw Ashley's cot. "I remember the moment before what I suspect was the Crucible firing. After that I remember seeing Ashley sleeping on that cot, hearing a beep and then going back to sleep again." The doctor smiled, "Excellent. Your memory seems intact and you're making an excellent physical recovery. Thanks mostly to your bio-mechanical implants. However, according to the diagnostics we did on your implants, it seems they were briefly shut down due to a power surge of some sort. Possibly that energy wave from the Crucible. I'm sure if it was powerful enough to shut down the Reapers then simple implants like yours would be affected as well, especially that close to the source." The doctor stopped his recitation and started typing.

I was shocked. I had completely forgotten about the Reapers. Hell, they were the reason I was in this mess. Now I had to know.

"So the Reapers are dead?" I asked. I was scared to hear that all of it had been for nothing. The weeks of negotiation to get the allied fleets organized, the Hammer ground forces that were nearly decimated running to the beam, the months of effort to build the Crucible. I've heard nothing but a near constant stream of bad news since the Reapers invaded Earth and I had forced myself to expect the worse so as not to be disappointed. I realized that I had been holding my breath when Ilset brought his head back up, smiled and said, "Oh yes! After the wave hit, we started getting reports from all over the planet that the Reapers and their forces were shutting down. Over a period of several days we were getting reports from population centers around the galaxy that the Reapers are dead." The doctor stopped, his eyes unfocused and then continued, "It was the strangest thing to see, one moment the Reapers were wading through our fleets and ground troops like a pestilence, and the next the Reapers simply fell over dead." The doctor looked back at me and continued.

"Over the past several weeks, ships of the allied fleet have been steadily returning to find out what happened and have begun to take part in search and rescue efforts." The doctor turned back to me, a small smile on if face as he leaned in, as if to share a secret, "Despite the need to help people, many stopped and celebrated at least for a few hours. The Council has even started calling it Liberation Day." I smiled. It was a relief to hear some good news.

The doctor straightened back up, cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, back to your diagnosis; we found that after a short time your implants came back online and began to repair some of the damage to your internal organs as well as the burns to your body. The injuries that your implants couldn't repair we had to repair in surgery. You were in and out of surgery several times over the past three weeks, but as near as I can tell you'll do just fine. You're still badly bruised in some places and your scars are still fairly fresh but you should make a full recovery in time. Also I'll make sure to have some broth brought up. I'm sure you're hungry." Doctor Ilset looked back to the pad again and continued typing.

I didn't feel like eating, pain meds always unsettled my stomach but arguing with a doctor is like trying to hold back the tide.

I remembered some of my injuries from before the explosion and I was curious about how bad I was, not to mention the fact that I was somehow rescued. "How was I rescued and what was my condition?" I asked. Ilset looked back up and replied, "You were found by a group of C-Sec officers who were attempting to secure the Citadel Council chambers when they found an access way that connected to the Crucible. It was there where they found you. When you were brought in you had lost a significant amount of blood from a gunshot wound, you were badly burned although your armor took the brunt of that, your ear drums had burst, and you had large bits of heavy gauge glass imbedded in your face. I was ready to declare you dead, but your heart kept beating. As I said, your synthetic implants were the only things keeping you alive, if you didn't have them you would've been dead long before you were found."

I blinked in shock. I knew I was in bad condition but I didn't realize it was that bad. My face frowned in confusion, "Wait, you said my ear drums had burst. How can I hear you now?" The doctor smiled as he replied, "During your times in surgery we had difficulty with figuring out how to restore your hearing until we received a donation from one…" Ilset paused as he looked at the data pad "M. Lawson. Not sure who that is or how they knew what we needed but the donation was in the form of implants to replace your ear drums and a specialist to fit you with them. We knew we wouldn't be able to test them out until you regained consciousness but it seems they're working well enough." With that comment the doctor paused to take down a note and continued, "We'll still need to run tests to determine how well they function."

I sat back in thought, there was so much to digest. The Reapers dead and the war over. Now what was I supposed to do? I could barely remember what my life was like before my encounter with the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime. My life was so caught up in discovering a way to combat the Reapers and ready the galaxy for their return that I had nearly forgotten my prior ambitions. Then I remembered my final thoughts as I shot that tube. I wanted peace, a quiet little corner of the galaxy and most of all I wanted Ashley. I wanted kids. The thought made me smile but a tingle of fear crept in with it. Would she want a family too? Or would she want to continue to redeem her grandfather's name and further her military career? It seems Ashley and I were going to have a lot to talk about.

Looking back at Ashley's cot I began to feel lonely. I hadn't spoken with her since I sent her away with the Normandy. "Where's Commander Williams?" Doctor Ilset looked up again and replied "She was called back to the Normandy. Apparently Admiral Hackett ordered them to take part in search and rescue missions down on the planet."

Planet? Where was I now, the Citadel? More questions raced through my mind as I realized I was behind on a lot of news. The doctor must've seen the look of confusion on my face and headed me off, "I'm sure you have plenty of other questions Commander. I would like to stay and bring you up to speed but I do have other patients to tend to. I'll have a nurse bring you an Omni-tool so you can catch up as much as you can. I'll also make sure that Commander Williams and Admiral Shepard are made aware of your status." Ilset turned to leave, stopped and added, "They've been rather insistent that I contact them once you woke up." He gave an irritated huff and promptly left, all the while muttering something about being every one's personal secretary.

I spent the next several hours reading up on local news and sending messages to the Spectre office as well as Alliance FLEETCOM to update them on my condition. After that I kept myself busy by checking myself over to find out what my body could and couldn't do when my Omni-tool beeped. I flicked my fingers over the orange display and Ashley's face came up on its small screen.

My heart began to race and I felt a grin spread across my face. She looked tired and her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, but she was still beautiful. I always liked it when she had her hair pulled up like that. I spoke up and said, "Hey Ash."

She broke out in a grin and despite the size of the screen I could see the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Shepard…you're awake." She barely choked out the words in disbelief, a few seconds ticked by with neither of us saying anything. I smiled and said, "So, did you miss me?" Ashley chuckled, bringing up a hand to wipe her face as she spoke, "That's an understatement." Her smile turned serious and her tone took on an edge, "I was ready to drag you back from the afterlife just to kick your ass for doing that to me again." She wasn't amused by the joke and I realized I was in for another tongue lashing like on Horizon. The last time I had truly died there wasn't much I could have done but that doesn't diminish the pain she went through. Right now she was hurt and needed to let it out. "I'm sorry Ashley, you were injured and I wanted to get you to safety."

She let out a frustrated sigh, "Scott, we're soldiers. We're always in dangerous situations. I told you I wasn't going to lose you again but you sent me away. I'm not some shrinking violet that you have to protect, I could've been there to back you up." Her anger faded as fresh tears started down her face. "You didn't have to go alone." That last statement stabbed straight to the heart. I would've loved nothing than for her to be with me until the end. In hindsight however, she likely would've been killed by Harbinger's laser, but I also understood what she was getting at; she would've rather died with me than to be left behind to pick up the pieces.

"I'm sorry Ashley. Sending you away was one of the hardest things I did that day and I knew you would've been there for me. I know how much that must have hurt you, and I never meant to put you through that again. I've always felt better when you were there to fight with me." I paused to let Ashley weigh in. A hint of a smile tugged at her mouth and her dark eyes glittered, "Go on." she said.

It was true. I wasn't saying it just to get back in her good graces. She was the best solder to guard your back, and even better at charging ahead and smoking out the enemy. I suppressed a grin as that thought gave me an idea to tease her with. "Especially when I could stare at your ass during combat. I mean, why do you think I made you take point all of those times?" Ashley broke down laughing, it took her a few seconds to recover and fire one back. "So that's why you're such a horrible shot? I wondered why I was always scoring more kills than you." Her tone turned a little serious but she used that playful half grin that I always loved, "I know you meant well, but don't you dare leave me behind like that again."

I smiled and tossed her a mock salute, "Yes ma'am. Next time I'm in a life or death situation I'll be sure to drag you right along." On the screen I saw Ashley turn her head away for a few moments, then she turned back to me and said, "Listen I have to go, we're running SAR right now and we just got a report of some more people we need to pick up. We'll talk more when I get back in a few days…I love you Skipper." Smiling, I replied "I'm looking forward to it Williams…and I love you too." Ashley grinned at the reference to our conversations years before and the display turned off.

Sitting back I smiled at the thought of seeing her again, holding her in my arms, smelling her hair. It would be nice to have some real time alone together that didn't involve combat or the prospect of dying the following day. That's how our relationship had always been, a relationship born of war and I was curious to know how it would hold up to peace time.

I brought up my Omni-tool again to begin checking messages. I came across one from Traynor talking about how glad she was that I was awake and that she was planning a party aboard the Normandy to celebrate the end of the war, in addition to an offer for a rematch at chess. Then I found another message from a group of merchants from Zakera Ward of the Citadel demanding to know which one of their stores was truly my favorite. It seems they had been itching to get a hold of me about it and finally found me. I started thinking how I was going to get myself out of this quagmire when I heard the door swish open. Looking up I saw an older woman walk in wearing Alliance dress blues decorated with the silver star of a Rear Admiral.

My Mom.

_This is the first chapter of a small story I plan on writing. This one took me a while to write down and went through several revisions before I felt it was right. I wanted to thank Aurora313 from the BSN for ideas on how to write dialogue, especially for Shepard and Ashley. I'm already working on the next chapter, hopefully it won't take as long to get that one out like this one did. Reviews are welcome, I'm still very new to writing and any help is appreciated. Thanks for reading!_

_scotiej  
_


	2. Recollection and Reflection

I sat up and smiled at seeing my Mom enter the room, she looked older than what I remembered. It had only been a few months since I last saw her when I was being held for my involvement in the destruction of the Bahak system. Her once dark brown hair had streaks of silver throughout and the lines around her blue eyes had deepened. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked exhausted. Despite her fatigue and age she stood stock straight with a cap smartly fitted to her head and still managed to look fit as a fiddle. "I guess I'm supposed to salute a flag officer, aren't I?" I quipped. A wry smile tugged at her mouth as she removed her cap. "That's the first thing you say to your mother after dancing with death yet again? Smartass." She walked over and wrapped me in a hug. "God, Scottie, I thought I was going to have to bury you again." She said as she began to sob, "I came over as soon as I got the message from your doctor, I've been pestering the poor guy for updates since you were found. How are you feeling?" She pulled out of the hug, wiped at her face and sat down on the bed next to me. I responded, "I suppose I'll be alright. The bullet wound feels a little stiff and the burn scars are a little tender, but I'm alright. They want me to start walking soon to see how well I can get around." I stopped; part of me still couldn't believe I had made it. "I'm still in some shock that I'm alive though. I set off the Crucible fully expecting to die, but here I am. It's got to be a miracle, Mom. There's no other way I can explain it." She smiled as her as more tears welled up and said, "God certainly seems to like you. You've survived things that would boggle the mind. I still can't wrap my head around you returning from the dead."

I looked down as I remembered waking up on that Cerberus station. "That's one thing I still don't know how to explain, whether by science or God or some mixture of both I was brought back. One moment I'm floating through space with a breach in my hardsuit choking to death and the next I'm waking up to the sounds of a woman's voice telling me to get up." I looked back up at Mom, she looked like she was getting uncomfortable sitting on the bed, so she got up, grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it over and sat down.

"You don't remember anything in between?" She asked as she got settled, her brow furrowed with apprehension. I could tell she was curious and wanted to know whether I had been to heaven or some other afterlife. I encountered the same line of questioning from Ashley, she wanted to know if I had seen anything. I didn't want to crush my Mom but I didn't want to lie about it either. "Ashley asked this very same thing before we the attack on Cerberus and I still have the same answer; just black. No light, no smiling faces of dead loved ones. It was like being in a deep dreamless sleep."

Mom looked down and her expression turned to disappointment, I understood how she felt. I shared the same beliefs that she did and not experiencing what was expected in death was difficult to come to grips with. I was reminded of my fight with Matriarch Benezia and how she finally broke through Sovereign's indoctrination only to breathe her last by saying that there was supposed to be a light. Was there really a God, or gods, or any afterlife? Liara even went through a crisis of faith by discovering that the Goddess of her beliefs was actually a surviving member of the Prothean civilization that passed along knowledge and wisdom and was deified for it. I'm sure there are plenty of things that could easily explain or disprove many of the things that occurred in my religious texts but as I've said before I've always been a sucker for the impossible and I wasn't going to let something like the unknown stop me. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary I was still going to cling to what brought me hope, I was still going to follow the teachings that helped shape me to be the man I am today. I looked back up at Mom and broke the silence.

"I know it can be hard to see these things and turn to despair and hopelessness when our faith is shaken, but belief in something that isn't there is the very definition of faith. Faith is what kept me going these past several years when many people thought I was crazy for thinking that the Reapers would return, and now look at us." As I said this I swept out my hands to emphasize the point and looking into Mom's eyes I felt myself beginning to choke up as I continued. "I would rather be wrong and fade into nothingness than be right and go to another place after death that I wouldn't like. Besides, it's how we live our lives that count the most and I choose to live my life according to the beliefs you taught me, and so far they haven't steered my wrong."

I brought up my hand to wipe away the tears that had fallen as Mom did the same. Despite both of our professions and the constant need to keep collected in front of our soldiers we had always been able to be open with one another and this moment was no exception. You had to have someone to open up to when things got rough or you'd end up losing it when you were needed the most. "You're right." Mom said as she smiled. "How you came back doesn't matter, you're here again. Thank you. That was something I really needed to hear." Mom stopped for a moment and then continued. "Other than the physical, how are you really? I read the reports that Commander Williams passed up the chain regarding what you and the Normandy dealt with during the course of the war. It sounds like you went through hell."

Just the mention of what we went through sent memories rushing to the front of my mind. I was in a good mood but the thought of all that had happened brought me back down again. The attack on Earth, Ashley's brush with death, the Cerberus attack, all of it came up with vivid detail.

"We did." I responded. "I've seen more than my fair share of death and destruction over the years but what we went through during this war was brutal." I looked over at Mom and began to relive it all. We spent the next several hours discussing what happened and it felt good to get it all out. I simply hadn't been able to talk with someone about all of this before. I had spoken with Admiral Hackett and Ashley but we were always so busy we just didn't have the time to really hash things out and get them in the open. I even spoke with Liara about some of these things before but it never felt right. She always seemed like she was just trying to butt in instead of simply being a sounding board.

In any case I got to air out my fears and frustrations about my experiences. I relived the horrors of seeing Thessia fall, remembered heroes dying by the dozens and the many more madness inducing things that I experienced.

"I remember seeing those first Reapers descend from the clouds back in Vancouver at the start of it all." I said at one point during our conversation. "I've never really been afraid of them before. Seeing Sovereign for the first time I was in awe but I steeled myself to defeat it. Every time Harbinger threw out some line to demoralize me I used it to fuel my determination, but seeing them materialize from the sky like that truly scared me. They knocked massive warships of the sky like toy models and burned half of the city within an hour of landing. I know you know that fear is a constant companion of soldiers but it nearly took hold of me that day." Mom nodded along, patiently listening to me. "That was really rough but seeing Ashley nearly beaten to death by that damned Cerberus robot broke me." I choked out as tears streamed down my face yet again since our talk began. "For the first time in years I didn't know what to do. I stood there over her in complete and utter shock and didn't know what to do next. It finally took Liara to snap me out of it and remind me that we needed to bug out and get to the Citadel…I still remember her face, bloody and bruised while I'm standing by completely helpless and I was still expected to pick myself up and do my duty." I looked back over at Mom and saw more tears forming in her eye and continued. "I did my duty and hated every minute of it wishing I could just be at her side. It hurt that I couldn't be there for her, I know she understood but she needed me and I was stuck having to clean up other people's messes and deal with the consequences of the fact that almost nobody had prepared for the attack.  
I spent three years trying to prepare the galaxy for the Reapers and we still got caught with our pants down because no body wanted to believe it. I had to rely on a damned terrorist group to yank me back from the grave and equip me to do what I had been trying to do since I touched that beacon on Eden Prime." I switched from reliving my grief about Ashley to venting out my frustrations regarding my superiors, both in the Alliance and the Citadel Council. It seems that I had been keeping those feelings locked down tight because now they rushed out like a flood. "I had always tried to be understanding in regards to the politicians. I know they require proof before making drastic changes but despite that I still resented them for how I was treated. I tried to delay the Reapers arrival but in doing so I inadvertently caused the deaths of over five hundred thousand Batarians and I was branded a war criminal. However any mention of the Reapers brought disapproving looks and disparaging comments." Stopping for a moment I looked Mom square in the eye and said "While I was scared when the Reapers attacked I also felt a strange sense of vindication that I had been right all along. It didn't last long but part of me reveled in being right."

I stopped for a moment and saw the look on Mom's face change from that of my compassionate Mom to that of a commanding officer. I knew that look and had an idea of what was coming. Her voice took on and edge that even caused me to wince. "You need to stow that talk mister. Those are difficult things to live with, but in the end you managed to bring together those very same people to finally fight back. Yes, they balked at what you were trying to advise and even called you crazy but they finally listened to you when the proof they needed was staring them in the face." I tried to interject about how the Council treated me but her eyes narrowed and she cut me off before I could get out a sound. "The past no longer matters, Scott. What's done is done and there is nothing that you can do to change that. They acted only as politicians can and you can't blame them for that. Yes, I agree that they acted foolishly and could've better prepared the galaxy, but that's behind us. I've given you time to air your feelings and I can only sympathize with you but you need to dust yourself off and continue living for the future that you fought so hard for." Once she finished her expression softened a bit and she simply sat looking at me in silence waiting for me to weigh in.

I chuckled. It had been a long time since I had been taken to task by my mother. It reminded me of the time when she had caught me cheating on some homework when I was in my early teens. Always being on the move I was mostly educated at home and had a lot of autonomy regarding my education and in doing so I started cheating to avoid the work. I had been doing it for some time and lied about it extensively to cover it up. Once I was discovered Mom was angrier about the lying and cheating than lack of work. To her, moral standing and walking righteously was more important than physical things. Teachings that still resonate with me today.

I smiled and said. "You're right Mom. What's done is done and I'm alive and in relatively good health. I just need to snap to and live." I stopped and looked at her. "Thanks." Mom smiled back and responded. "You're welcome." She stood up and said. "I'm getting hungry. How about you?" I hadn't eaten since I woke up and that bowl of broth never came and could feel my stomach grumbling. I responded. "I think I could eat a horse." Mom fitted her cap to her head and said. "Good, let's head to the cafeteria and see what we can choke down." I looked back at her puzzled. "But…" She brought back the stern look that stopped me dead in my tracks. "No 'buts' mister. You said the doctor wanted you to start walking and you've been in that bed for a little over three weeks. Up and at 'em marine or I'll have you double time it." A little smile curled at her mouth. She was having fun at my expense.

I stifled a smile and decided to play along by rolling my eyes. "Good God, you're worse than Gunny Ellison. One little break and already bitching about goldbricking." I started to get up and worked to swing my legs over the side of the bed. The pain wasn't bad, the worse part was the stiffness from so much inaction. I was going to have to get myself back in shape. "Here, get me a robe. I'd rather not flash my ass to the world." Mom pulled out a robe hung up in a small cabinet and bent to help me up. Letting me lean on her as we made our way out of the room she said. "Now you can tell me more about what you have planned with Ashley Williams."

* * *

_Another chapter out. I hope you all like it. Again, reviews are appreciated. Especially critiques. Thanks for reading._

_-scotiej  
_


	3. Reminiscing

What did I have planned for Ashley?

I hadn't planned anything; I knew that I wanted a life together with her but the big question remained as to what _she_ wanted to do. It's a subject I had rolled around my head since before Mom arrived and as we slowly made our way to the cafeteria I explained my desires for a life and a family while expressing my doubts about what Ashley wanted. Again, it was something that would have to wait until she got back. I didn't want to pester her with questions while she was out on a mission, it can be difficult for soldiers to separate their personal lives from the professional. Especially now that she was the acting C/O of the Normandy it was a distraction she didn't need.

Mom approved of my desire for a family and expressed her regret that things hadn't worked between her and my father. Both of them being officers they were rarely around together and eventually their marriage fell apart. It was agreed that I would stay with Mom, Dad stayed in touch for a while but even that didn't last as I hadn't heard from him since I joined the N7 program. That was why I wanted to discuss things with Ashley, I didn't want our careers to come between us or any kids we might have. All in all, Mom and I spent the next hour talking and eating and generally catching up on lost time. Eventually she had to leave and return to the Orizaba. But not before she escorted me back to my room with one last piece of advice.

I sat back down on the bed, my legs were sore from the first workout they had received in weeks when Mom looked at me, her blue eyes narrowing like they always did whenever she had something serious to tell me. "Don't be afraid to communicate to Ashley what you want, but make sure to be open to what she wants as well. Keeping the comm lines clear in a relationship is one of the most important things you can remember." A touch of sadness tinged her face as she continued. "It was something I learned long after your father and I divorced. Don't let that happen to you two." Seeing that sadness on her face was sobering.

When I was younger my parents were happy and I knew they loved each other very much, but as the years went on and their careers took them to often separate postings, their closeness fell apart. Generally the Alliance tries to keep married officers together as much as possible, but it doesn't always work. Despite the somber mood I smiled and responded, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Stopping to think for a moment I realized that I was being selfish by merely thinking about my future. There were millions of people all over the galaxy picking up the pieces from the war and my mom was no exception. I'm quite certain that since the threat of total annihilation of galactic civilization was gone that everyone was probably asking, "What now?"

I realized Mom needed a little advice too.

Narrowing my eyes right back at her I said. "You can build a new life for yourself too, Mom. You're not that old and you deserve some happiness." Moisture formed at the edges of her eyes as she smiled, "Thanks kiddo, I'll remember that." She stooped to hug me and added. "You keep in touch and let me know how it goes with you two. If all goes well I expect grand kids in a few years at least." I laughed and said, "I'll see what I can do." Pulling away from the hug we said our goodbyes and I was left alone again. A short time later the doctor came back having heard about my excursion and gave me a sound lecture about doing too much too early, but was pleased to hear how well I could walk and scheduled a rehabilitation session for the next day.

Sleep came quickly that night; a good conversation and a good measure of crying can wear a person out, however the dream that I had that night was not as satisfying.

Running, always running. Down that hallway. Over that crate. Up that ladder.

The woman was keeping a decent pace, always just ahead of me and never in a clear shot of my pistol. Ashley and Liara were behind me barely able to keep up. The Cerberus spy kept throwing incineration tech at us when she got a chance and by the time we passed through an airlock it became obvious that she wasn't a woman.

We were outside in the unbreathable atmosphere of Mars and she wasn't wearing any gear.

Rounding a corner I began to realize that this was a memory and not just a dream and dreaded what would happen next. A shuttle with Cerberus markings circled around to pick her up right before we got there. Despite the fact I knew we would catch her it was maddening to see her get away with the precious data we were sent to collect but her escape wasn't to be. James swooped in with our own shuttle like a hero from some action vid and rammed the Cerberus vessel, crashing it into the landing platform. After diving away from the crash I picked myself up and saw Ashley helping Liara to safety as well as the woman we had been chasing walking from the fiery wreck of the shuttle like a wraith. It was a scorched and scarred but still functioning mech. It shrugged off Ashley's shots like mosquitoes and grabbed her helmet, lifting her from the platform. Inside my helmet I didn't hear the exchange, but I knew it was communicating with The Illusive Man, asking for instruction. Knowing what was going to happen next I tried to steel myself if only to outlast the dream.

The sound of the machine slamming my beautiful Ashley against the bulkhead of the shuttle again and again drove me to the brink. I heard myself screaming her name with no response. Ashley tried to struggle, but the mech was far too strong and soon Ashley went limp as if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut. The mech dropped Ashley, turned and charged at me. Bringing up my pistol I fired shot after shot waiting for the machine to drop to the ground like it was supposed to, instead the machine slapped aside my gun and grabbed me as well. Its iron fist wrapped around my throat as its face changed from that of the scarred machine to that of my mother. Her face twisted in disgust as she spoke. "You are a failure Scott. You failed her and you have disappointed me. You left those people to die on Earth, you killed the people of Arathot for nothing and you failed to stop Cerberus time and again. I raised you to be better than that. Why I ever called you my son I will never know." Tears poured down my face as I felt her grip tighten around my neck.

My eyes snapped open and I gasped in air as I lay there. I slowly sat up trying to catch my breath and calm my racing heartbeat. After a few moments I began to force my mind to remember that it was a dream. I had had dreams like that before, often after trying moments in my life. The details were always a little but they always boiled down to one of my greatest fears; rejection by those who I love and respect the most. They started after my platoon was killed on Akuze by Thresher Maws and I've been plagued by them ever since. After I was extracted I underwent mandatory psychotherapy to determine my ability to return to active duty. They gave me a passing bill of health despite the nightmares and jitteriness. Due to my relatively stable home life the Alliance psychologists felt that I could handle mental and emotional stress and sent me on my way. The nightmares went away a few weeks after that and they still do whenever something traumatic happens. Of course that doesn't mean that they don't scare the shit out of me whenever I have them.

I sat up and looked around the darkened room; to my left, next to Ashley's cot was a window that looked out on the Presidium of the Citadel. Seeing the sky cars whizzing by made me remember when Garrus and I shot bottles together on one of the higher level walkways. It was completely against the rules and if C-Sec knew about it would've hauled us away immediately. I smiled at the memory of missing my last shot on purpose and letting Garrus take the win. Snapping out of my reverie I returned to the brief view of the Presidium and decided to go for a walk. I knew at this point that I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep for a while so I figured I would enjoy the sights for a bit.

Getting up wasn't as bad as before and I managed to get my robe on and walked out the room. I didn't get very far before being stopped by an Asari nurse who was on watch for the night. Getting up from her station she called out to me. "Is there something wrong Commander?" Concern etched her pretty blue face as she walked up to me. "No, I'm fine." I reassured her. "Just couldn't sleep and thought I'd go and see if there was a place I could watch the cars flying by." Her expression turned to a smile as she directed me to a small park on an upper level area of the hospital. She offered to get me some assistance, but I insisted that I could manage by myself.

Making my way there I found that the park was just an open platform designed like many of the well manicured parks that looked out on the Presidium. Just like every view on this part of the Citadel it was beautiful, the artificial ceiling showed a dark night to simulate time periods with the humming and thrumming of the sky cars sounded as they flew past. I also heard the splashing of various fountains below that dotted the artificial water ways. I thought back to the first time I saw it all nearly three years ago. Ashley, Kaidan and I stood in Ambassador Udina's office waiting to hear back about the attack on Eden Prime. We stood in wonder of it all. Even for someone as well traveled as myself, I had never been to the Citadel until then and it was awe inspiring how large the station was.

That thought reminded me of the discussion the three of us had about the races of the Citadel and how humanity could possibly contribute to it all when I commented we had plenty to offer. Jokingly I stated that we had sandy beaches, beautiful women and the emotion called "love". Thinking that I was flirting with her Ashley made a bad attempt to joke that I would have to buy her dinner first before I could see her in something skimpy. I shrugged it off to save her further embarrassment, but the thought of seeing her in a tin-foil skirt and thigh high boots was appealing.

Despite my desire to continue reminiscing I knew that I was already well on my way to recovery and hopefully could return to the Normandy. I knew I needed to continue catching up on current events so I started checking messages again on my omni-tool to see what else I had missed. A recent message had come from fellow Spectre Jondam Bau. He reported that the remnants of the Batarian Hegemony were petitioning the Council to bring them back into the fold. With the Batarian home world and their colonies nothing but rubble and their race being recently listed an endangered species they were looking for the protection of the Council. The report went on to say that despite the new petition there were already rumors of a small cell of Batarian dissidents led by General Balak that were calling for the reunification of the Hegemony and a return to the old ways. Bau included a warning to me personally that he had heard that Balak was still out for my blood for the destruction of the Bahak system and to watch my back. I sent back a quick reply thanking him for the information.

In addition to that were dozens of messages from the various friends that I've made over the years welcoming me back, including one from Admiral Hackett recommending me and Ashley for the Star of Terra as well as an invitation, which seemed strangely like an order, to an ungodly amount of press junkets and ceremonies marking the end of the war. Curing the Genophage and ending the Quarian/Geth war seemed like child's play compared the amount of glad-handing and standing around in my dress blues that was in store for me.

As I continued reading and replying I heard the door that led to the park swish open. Twisting around on the bench I saw a sight even more beautiful than the Presidium. Standing there at the door dressed in Alliance fatigues was Ashley. She smiled and said. "Hey Skipper."


	4. Reunion

And there she is. It's only been a day since I awoke but our reunion is weeks in the waiting. While I was physically here the entire time I can't help but feel like I've been separated from Ashley for years. My heart feels like it's about to burst as we cross the distance to one another.

It still takes some work to walk, but I slowly make my way to her. Seeing this, Ashley crosses the rest of the way to reach me and as she does I start the little dance that we always share; the verbal game that's all our own.

"You don't have to call me that you know. We have been the same rank for a while now." She plays along with a sly smile on her face. "You'll always be the Skipper to me, remember?" Wrapping my arms around her I lean in for a kiss as I reply. "Right, I remember now. _O Captain My Captain_."

There's nothing like the feel of the embrace of your lover after a long absence; the feather-like sensation of her breath on your face or the velvet of her lips. Even more incredible is the love that you see in the deep wells that are her eyes.

An eternity passes in that small moment of whispered "I love yous_"_ and long kisses. Eventually I bring us back into the flow of time.

Pulling out of our hug I ask. "What happened to 'I'll be back in a couple of days'?" Her smile changed to a frown as she replied. "We finished early and Admiral Hackett ordered the _Normandy_ back to stand-by. Let's just say that after three weeks we're not finding as many survivors as before."

The weight of that detail was sobering. "How bad is it?" Ashley inhaled as if to prepare herself. "It's really bad; we only saw what happened to Vancouver and London, just think of that, but on a global scale. All of the major cities have been reduced to rubble, we don't know how many are dead but I've heard estimates in the billion range. It's taken this long of what remains of the Alliance just to get global communications running again."

I shook my head in amazement. It was tough hearing about how bad the battle was going as we started our run for the transport beam to the Citadel, but hearing the butcher's bill after the fact was even worse.

Ashley continued. "From the space battle alone we lost two thirds of the Alliance and Turian fleets. The Asari fleets aren't that bad off but they were hit hard when they lost three of their dreadnaughts and nearly lost the _Destiny Ascension _as well. The Quarian and Geth fleets were the best off but they didn't come away unscathed. It's going to take a very long time to rebuild what the Reapers destroyed." She stopped for a moment as she recalled the gory details. "I can't even being to describe the conditions in which we found people after they were rescued from Reaper prison camps. It was worse than what the history records show about this sort of thing. We still don't even know why they were imprisoned in the first place; I just thought the Reapers wanted to process humans to create another Reaper…"

Frustration etched her face as she interrupted herself. "I'm sorry, I show up barely a day after you wake up and already I'm dumping all of this stuff on you." I smile as I wrap my arms around her and Ashley buries her face in my chest. "It's alright." I say. "You've had a lot to deal with and you just needed to let it out. It helps maintain your sanity…not that you had a whole lot of that in the first place." Ashley chuckled. "Just following your example, insanity seems to be your stock in trade."

Ashley pulled her head back and looked me in the eye, "God, I missed you Scott." Tears welled up as she continued. "When the Admiral ordered the fleet to retreat as the Crucible went off I thought you were dead. I had to keep it together for the others, especially after the _Normandy_ had to make a hard landing." I blanched at that piece of information. Interrupting her I asked. "Wait, by 'hard landing' you mean that it crashed? Is everyone alright?"

Ashley stopped. "Oh, right. I guess you hadn't heard yet. Don't worry, other than some nasty bruises everybody came out alright…sort of."

Ashley explained that the energy wave from the Crucible forced a hard reset of EDI's AI core and nearly shut down most of the ship in the process causing it to crash. Despite the shut down Joker was able set the ship down on a nearby planet well enough to avoid serious damage. It took a few days but they were able to affect repairs and bring EDI back online. Ashley shrugged. "When EDI came back online her personality was a little cold and frankly a little scary, but she had backups of herself stored away and was back to her usual self in no time."

I thought back to what the Catalyst told me about choosing to destroy the Reapers and how the energy pulse would also target all synthetic life as well. It seemed ridiculous but I couldn't know for sure. It even suggested that due to my implants that I would die as well. Now more and more it seemed like the Catalyst was simply lying to keep me from killing it and the Reapers. God forbid what the outcomes would have been had I chosen the other options it gave me. All in all, what was done was done. I had finished what I had set out to do and now I had my life ahead of me. Looking at Ashley I decided to set out on a new path in life and see where it took me.

"It seems like you held it together Ashley. I'm proud of you. I'm sure you're dad would be too." Ashley smiled. "Thanks. It was certainly an interesting experience being in command. The whole time I was expecting the entire thing to fall apart because I did or didn't do something. Through it all and despite all of the stress I enjoyed it."

Getting tired of standing there I suggested that we sit down and led us toward the bench. "Do you feel like you've redeemed the family name…or do you feel you still have something to prove?" I asked as we walked.

I had to know what she wanted for her future but I'm scared simply ask her. I've confronted countless people on subjects far more delicate than this and yet I just can't face the possibility that Ashley will want to continue her career. I have nothing with her wanting to further herself but I still think back to my parent's failed marriage and what their careers did to it.

As we settle on the bench she replies. "I'm sure there will always be some jackass who will question the Williams name, and I'm not sure I'll truly be over the need to prove myself. But I know who I am and what I've done and I know that the people who I love and respect know that as well." Ashley looks at me and I can already tell she's knows I'm angling for something. Instead of letting me work my way to it she pins me down and simply says. "Why do you ask?

I can't help but chuckle. She's always been so brutally honest and while she enjoys our flirtations she can't stand mincing words. I take a deep breath and dive right in. "I've had a lot to think about ever since I woke up, even when I was setting off the Crucible when I thought I was going to die I knew that I wanted to settle down and start a family."

Ashley's cheeks started to blush as I continued. "I'm so tired Ash. It's been so long since I've been able to just sit and rest. I love the Alliance and I love being a soldier, but I want something different. I've faced death so many times that I want to actually live life for once instead of always fighting for it." Looking over at Ashley I continue. "I want to settle down and I was hoping you'd join me."

The expression on her face was one of surprise and it caused my stomach to do back flips as my mind raced with thoughts of her turning me down.

Her expression turned from surprise to a roguish smile. "That's the best you could come up with?" My heart stopped as she went on. "You ended a centuries long conflict by yelling and got Tali cleared of treason charges but you couldn't even come up with a 'Will you marry me?'"

I know I shouldn't have taken offense to what she said because I knew she was just teasing. But I was hurt. I'm trying to be serious and she's _joking_?

After seeing my shocked reaction, Ashley must have realized she went too far and said. "Sorry! I was trying to be a smart ass. I'll be serious." She placed her hand on mine and said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stomp all over your feelings. I've been thinking about the same thing for a while and I didn't know how to approach it with you. I always thought you'd be a career soldier for life but to be honest I'm glad that you want to settle down because I want it too." She smiled as she looked at me. "Although, I'm gonna need a ring if you want to make an honest woman out of me."

I laughed, more out of nervous release than humor. "I think you're out of luck with that, Ash. I spent the last of my credits upgrading Normandy's stock of weapons and armor for the battle." As I spoke I met her gaze and continued. "Think you can marry a broke old soldier?" Ashley grinned. "I think I can manage." She leaned up and brought her lips to mine.

After too brief of a moment I pulled away, a smile tugging at my cheeks. "So is that a 'yes'?"

Her brown eyes glittered as she grinned again, then brought her arm around to my head and pulled me in for a much more satisfying kiss.

* * *

_A couple of points to go over. Firstly, sorry about the delay, life and work have been getting in the way. Hopefully next time I'll have the final chapter ready a little earlier. Yes, I said final...at least for this story. I've got more planned for Scott Shepard. Secondly; I know this one is a little short but I wanted to focus on their discussion and to be honest I'm still not sure it came out alright. I'm still trying to figure out how their reactions and thoughts. So, please forgive the bumbling attempts. Again, critiques are welcome. Especially at this point. Thanks._


	5. Rest and Not Quite Relaxation

We spent the rest of that night talking and enjoying the sights of the Presidium. It had been the first time in nearly three years that we actually felt like a couple. We didn't have to worry about some suicide mission the next day or the responsibilities of a military career. I can safely say it was one of the happiest moments in my life.

The following day I started physical therapy and it's just as mind numbing as one might think. Despite the incredible progress I had made since waking up Doctor Ilset insisted that I go through the motions like everyone else. During that time I got to interact with injured civilians and soldiers alike, their conditions were nowhere near as miraculous as mine and many of them would have to live with disabilities but the experience allowed me to see what other people had gone through. I knew that my cybernetic implants and various other improvements given to me during the Lazarus Project allowed me to recover better than most, but seeing what others had to go through taught me to appreciate what I had.

Over the next several days Ashley split her time aboard the Normandy and coming to see me and when she was around we often talked about our future together and how we wanted to handle our careers.

I made sure she knew my apprehension about continuing a military career as a married couple and she wasn't afraid to let me know how much she preferred being in the Alliance. However, after several days of discussions and concessions we decided to retire from the Alliance and stay on as Spectres, at least until we decided to start a family. She agreed that a military career didn't work very well with keeping a family together as it often took her father away from her mother and three sisters.

During one of her visits Ashley and I were sharing a meal in my new room; I had been moved there since my condition no longer warranted a recovery room. As we ate our lunch I noticed that Ashley seemed more reserved and apprehensive, she seemed like she wanted to ask me something and always stopped herself so I decided to bridge the gap.

Placing my fork down, I spoke up. "Alright. What's bothering you?"

Relief flashed across her face but she still wore a pained, almost guilty expression. "It's something that I came across recently. I didn't mean to snoop but I was in the Captain's cabin on the Normandy writing up a report when I stumbled across your personal logs."

Ashley stopped to gauge my reaction. I wasn't offended, I knew she wasn't the type to go through someone's things and it seemed like something was really bothering her. "Ok, what did you find?" I asked.

With the apprehension of someone confessing their sins to a priest, she continued. "It was your logs during your times with Cerberus. Once I saw the time stamp I couldn't help myself and read through them, especially the ones after your mission to Horizon."

Ah. That's what was bothering her.

I had mulled over this topic in my head for days after we had bumped into each other on the colony of Horizon more than seven months ago. It was shortly after my resurrection by Cerberus and was working with them to investigate the disappearance of the colonists. Meeting Ash there was the first time she had seen me in nearly two years after believing I was dead, even worse she found me in the company of the human-centric terrorist organization. I knew why she was angry with me, but that didn't diminish the pain she caused. During that time I had poured my emotions into my personal logs and now she found them. I smiled to reassure her. "It's alright Ash, I have no secrets to hide from you."

Ashley took a breath. "I had no idea that what I said hurt you so badly, Shepard." She tried to keep her composure and speak normally, but her emotions got the best of her and her words came spilling out. "I was angry with you and wasn't sure if it was really you and I called you a traitor. I wasn't sure how to react and I just blurted out all that I had pent up during those two years. I am so sorry."

I won't lie, having her see my perspective of that situation was gratifying. Once I got over my hurt and examined her side of issue, I couldn't blame her.

Yet as she sat there openly expressing remorse about her part of it, I felt like my hurt feelings had been acknowledged. I didn't revel in her pain, I'm no sadist, but I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Once Ashley finished she broke down crying, I reached my hands over and grasped hers holding them between us. "Look at me. " I said.

Ashley snuffled as she brought her glistening brown eyes to mine. "I forgive you Ashley. Yes, what you said hurt, deeply. But if you read through the rest of my logs you would've seen that I began to understand what you went through. For me the experience felt like a few days, but to you it was years. Once I realized that you had to suffer through the grief of those years I knew that I couldn't hold what you said against you."

She wiped at her face as she protested. "But that doesn't excuse what I said to you."

I stood and pulled her up into a hug. "We've both said and done stupid things. But what's done is done. We're still here and we're together. I forgive you and I still love you." She tried to object again but I pulled back from the embrace and brought my lips to hers and cut off what she was going to say. After a few moments I felt her relax and she returned the kiss while wrapping her arms around my back.

As our pace quickened and our kisses deepened I slowly brought my hands down to grab her rear but Ashley pulled back with an embarrassed expression. "Shepard, not here! What if a nurse comes in?"

Trying to recover the moment I smiled a sly grin and responded. "Then we'll kick her out." She tried and failed to suppress a smile, she folded her arms like a pouting child and said "No, not in the hospital."

Feeling the moment slipping away I was getting frustrated, however a thought popped up in my mind. "Alright, how about we go out and have some fun?" Ashley eyed me suspiciously. "What did you have in mind?"

I scanned the arena to make sure the last few targets from the previous wave had dissipated while I discharged the thermal clip from my Vindicator rifle and loaded a new one. Ashley stood beside me in her blue Alliance issue armor, reloading her Geth Pulse Rifle. Her hair was a mess and sweat shined on her face but she still looked fantastic. While I watched her, my thoughts wandered back to what our interrupted kiss would've led to.

She finished loading a fresh thermal clip into her rifle, looked at me and smiled. "You know." She said, breaking me out of my reverie. "When you asked to go out for some fun I had no idea you meant the arena. I thought it would be a dinner or a dance at the bar with the real fun happening later."

Reverting to our verbal game I fired back. "Hey, you didn't want to have sex so I figured this would be the next best thing." Ashley smirked and shook her head. "I didn't want to have sex in your hospital room, and besides, you're supposed to be recuperating."

The voice of the announcer boomed over us and regaled the audience of how many points we had earned so far and that the final round was up next. As she finished her monologue I responded with a confident tone. "As you can see I am ready to be discharged and even then I'm out on a date with my girl."

Ash rolled her eyes. "Having fake shootouts for useless points is not my idea of a date. You owe me a dinner, and if you start a gunfight during that one I'm going to hurt you." That coaxed a hearty laugh from me as she playfully kicked at my shins. "Alright, alright." I said, still laughing. "How about that new Asari place down the way?"

Before she could answer the first part of last wave showed up almost all at once in a large group. Coalescing into their forms the armored Cerberus soldiers quickly broke up into two teams of five and moved in different directions in an attempt to flank us.

In this particular map there were only three tiered platforms with waist high barriers for cover so we quickly jumped over a set of them and crouched down to avoid the hail of incoming fire. While the shots weren't meant to kill, the technology that formed the basis of the arena's enemies could still cause serious kinetic damage. They could still pop your shields and feel like how a real bullet would impact, heaver rounds could even break bones. During the short time I knew about the Armax Arena I've never heard of a combatant dying but it certainly wasn't something I wanted to test out.

I glanced back up to the troopers heading toward me and saw two Guardians flanked by a Centurion and two regulars taking up positions behind similar cover. The Guardians were the first move towards us with their shoulder-high hand held shields; while archaic the shields were thick and could stop all but heavy explosives. Designed to allow their fellows to come up from behind and flush out their enemies from cover, they began to do just that. They turtled behind their shields, brought up heavy pistols and began their slow advance while the Centurion tossed a smoke grenade just to add some suspense.

Looking beyond Ashley I saw very close to the same makeup of enemies, however that group hadn't coordinated with mine to move at the same time. It seems whoever programmed the sim failed to ensure they acted tactically.

And that gave us the advantage.

I looked at Ashley and she simply nodded with a grim smile as she primed a grenade and tossed it behind the Guardians coming at me. While it wouldn't kill the Guardians or the Centurion behind them it would unbalance them enough so I could pick them off. I set my rifle to fire disruptor rounds and rose up to fire. Normally the smoke screen would've kept me from seeing their advance but thanks to the holographic visor over my right eye I could pick up their energy signatures perfectly. The explosion of the grenade toppled the Guardians and popped the shields of the Centurion, seeing this I quickly went to work.

Several three round bursts of fire later the Guardians dissolved into a holographic flash and the Centurion was convulsing from the disruptor rounds effects and dissolved with the same flash. The two remaining troopers behind them quickly ducked back behind cover when I heard Ashley bark at me.

Looking back I saw that the other squad of troopers had gotten their shit together and were making the same approach. I pulled a grenade from my belt, primed it and lobbed it behind them. Unfortunately it landed too far back and did little to affect the advance of the Guardians but killed the two trailing troopers. Ashley gave me an annoyed look and popped up to fire.

Chuckling to myself I brought up my omni-tool and activated an adrenaline pack and shouldered my rifle. The effect of the pack was instantaneous; my perception of time slowed to a crawl allowing me greater precision than usual so I sighted my weapon at the "mail-slot" of the Guardian's shields.

The slot was nothing more than a small rectangular hole for them to see through, but for me it was an opportunity.

In the fluid like nature of how I perceived the world I saw the Guardian's head through the slot and fired a burst. The trooper's head exploded in a holographic shower while I adjusted my aim for the second, turning him back into his constituent photons.

With them out of the way Ashley unleashed a torrent of lead from her Geth rifle at the Centurion. The rounds burned away his suit's shields faster than they could recharge and eventually blasted him apart into flashes of light. While she did that I turned to see the two remaining Cerberus grunts coming up to attack, they quickly went down with a series of headshots.

Since the round wasn't over we didn't get much chance to catch our breath as an Atlas and two Phantoms materialized and began their attack. The Atlas is a twelve foot tall hulking machine driven by a pilot with heavy armor and even heavier firepower. The Phantoms were small and extremely mobile field assassins equipped with biotic shields and armed with swords that would definitely ruin your day.

While the Phantoms broke left and right to flank us, the Atlas began firing its mass accelerator canon in our general direction. The impact of the heavy rounds popped our shields which coaxed some nasty expletives from the both of us. Ash and I ducked back down into cover as the barrage kept firing.

Ashley bunched up next to me trying to keep her head down. "Are you alright?" She asked with a look of concern. "I told you weren't ready for this sort of thing yet. You were nearly dead a few weeks ago."

I shook my head as my shields recharged. "I'm fine; it'll take more than that to put me on my back." Remembering that the two Phantoms were out there somewhere I knew we had to act fast. I clipped my rifle to the weapon rack on my back where it folded up and pulled my N7 Hurricane from my hip.

Of all the weapons that I own, this submachine gun is my favorite. What it lacks in accuracy it totally makes up for with its firing rate. Equipped with the right ammo mods it can mow through close to mid-range enemies in moments. With such a high rate of fire the kick back is monstrous, but with training you could own a battlefield with it.

We both had fought enough real Cerberus soldiers during the war to knew the best tactics to quickly dispatch them and we both focused on the Phantoms first as they dashed and flipped their way towards us. Standing back up I set my SMG for incinerator rounds and threw a grenade right at the feet of the incoming Phantom. It fired a tech blast that nearly drained my shields and then tried to dance away, but the grenade broke through her barrier. While she was vulnerable I knew I only had another second or two before I had to take cover when the Atlas would start firing at us. Squeezing the trigger to pulse the shots, the Hurricane burped out incendiary rounds and burned away the Phantom.

With that finished I ducked back down just in time for the Atlas to fire it's high impact rounds, each one blasting away harmlessly at my cover. Glancing back up to survey the scene I decided to leave Ashley to take care of the last Phantom while I would draw away the fire from the Atlas.

I got back up and fired a few bursts to get the mech's attention and quickly did a rolling dive to the right and ducked back into another set of barriers for cover as it fired more shots. The shots again impacted against my cover while I reloaded and activated another adrenaline pack since I was going to need every second of the Atlas's reloading time to bring down its shields. I my SMG for disruptor rounds, got back up from cover and fired in bursts to keep down the recoil enough to center all of the shots. My visor indicated that its shields were nearly down when I heard Ashley call out for help.

Looking to my left and still feeling the effects of the adrenaline, I saw that the remaining Phantom had managed to flank her by activating a tactical cloak. It had Ash on the ground with its blade held high, ready for a strike.

I brought my weapon to bear and fired a burst to knock it off center and started running. Crossing the distance in seconds, I dropped the Hurricane, grabbed the Phantom and tossed it over my shoulder and away from Ashley. While it sprawled on the ground I activated my Omni-blade attachment, cocked back my right arm and dispatched it.

That was when Atlas began firing again.

The first shot hit me in the back, broke my shields and staggered me. The second knocked me flat on my face while the third missed completely. I laid there for a few seconds in a daze while pain spiked from my right brow. I still don't know how those shots didn't register a death and end the match, but I wasn't going to just lay there and let it end. Shaking my head clear I got back up feeling the wet warmth of blood running down my cheek and dashed back into cover where Ash had just done the same thing.

Ashley looked at me with concern and shock etching her face, she was about the say something when I interrupted. "I'll be fine. Let's just get this over with."

It took a few more moments of popping up and back into cover like moles in a field as we traded fire with the Atlas before it exploded in a shower of holographic light, ending the match.

Ignoring the cheering of the crowds and the booming voice of the announcer Ashley holstered her rifle and came over to check on me. "God, Shepard. Those shots could've really hurt you." She brought up her Omni-tool and injected me with a shot of medi-gel. The injection quickly rushed through my body, numbing the pain and caused the blood at the wound to coagulate.

She gave me an incredulous look and said. "You do know that Phantom couldn't have killed me right?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I know. I couldn't help it; I saw you in danger and had to help."

Ashley smiled playfully. "My hero. How can I possibly repay you?" I stood up, making a show of offered her my arm and smiled suggestively. "Well, my apartment is just across the way…"

* * *

_I know I said that this would be the last chapter but once I started writing the arena fight, I knew that what I wanted to finish out with would have to come later. I have to say, writing a shoot out was fun and I hope I did well enough. To those sticklers who would point out the details regarding the inconsistencies regarding the tech behind the Armax Arena, I know. It added tension, at least in my opinion. _

_scotiej_


End file.
